Curio Research

Curio Research is a San Francisco, California-based software development company that builds fully on-chain video games and gaming infrastructure powered by smart contracts. The organization focuses on creating decentralized digital ecosystems where all core game logic, asset ownership, and player state are stored directly on public blockchain networks. To support its ongoing engineering efforts, the company successfully secured $2.9 million in a seed funding round to expand its technical team. This early-stage financing was backed by a syndicate of prominent venture capital firms, including recognizable names such as Bain Capital Crypto, TCG Crypto, and Robot Ventures. The studio's initial flagship project, a blockchain-based strategy game titled Treaty, utilizes custom smart contracts to enable complex player interactions and user-driven economic systems. Curio Research was founded in 2022 by co-founders Kevin Zhang and Yijia Chen.